I was absent from life yesterday because I was at a bridal shower in the Detroit area. Fun was had, punch was drunk, food was delicious.

It was nice to see that Phelps won his 8th gold. Hopefully he’ll start mentioning the names of all his relay partners in interviews. ;) Dara Torres made an impressive showing with her silvers (and personal bests) which means she’ll be on the college speaking/motivational speaking for life.

Today’s my dad’s birthday so Mom and I are going to the Detroit Institute of Arts. It’s been more years than I can recall since I was there (I think there was a special Egyptian mummy exhibit) and they recently did a facelift, so I’m kind of excited to see what they’ve got going on. Not only that, but being in metro Detroit means I can finally get an honest-to-god Coney Dog.

As a general rule, I just don’t care for them. There are a few exceptions.

Ruffles with French Onion dip. I will not eat Ruffles or any other plain chip plain ever. Nor will I eat other dip.

Salt and Vinegar potato chips, because HELLO vinegar.

Munchos. They are super salty, super crispy, and guaranteed to take three years off of your life per single-serving bag. But they are WICKED delicious.

Even with these exceptions, I’d say I eat a handful of potato chips maybe every other month. There are other things I like to snack on instead but every once in a while I get a craving.

Frex, last night after teaching class, I wanted Gatorade and Munchos. I pretty much always want Gatorade (duh) but I didn’t have Munchos at home so I stopped at 7-11. I got a 99 cent bag of chips and came home to study/watch TV (more watch TV than study *cough*).

I ate the whole bag. In and of itself that’s not unusual. It’s not a big bag and it was pretty much my dinner (That, the Gatorade and two S’mores. No, I am not a paragon of health. I’ve learned to live with my limitations.). No big. I finally went to bed at about midnight and kind of tossed and turned until about 12:30.

It turns out my digestive system has developed a resistance to Munchos.

It was not physically pleasant. In fact, it was kind of like I got light headed, nauseous, and then a cold sweat broke out on my ENTIRE BODY AT ONCE. Were I not reasonably confident of my cardiovascular health, I might have thought I was dying. As an added bonus, it smelled nothing like roses – unless you perhaps ferment your roses in rotten garbage. I got so freaked out by the color that I had to google it and make sure my intestines weren’t shriveling up or failing.

Luckily this all transpired (in bouts) for only a half an hour and I was back in bed at 1 am.

I was up at 6am to finish studying for my 11am exam (which went well). I’m just disappointed that one of the few chips I like is off the books now.

I really enjoy beer. Post-practical, Carly and I went out and had a couple dollar drafts and potato skins. Potato skins are tied with chocolate as my favorite thing to eat with beer. It was a nice semi-celebration. I let it settle for an hour or so and then I took Piper for a 2.5 mile run.

Piper had considerably less fun than I did because my sprint intervals have gotten longer. Right now she’s passed out on the floor breathing helicopter breaths – the rapid fire respiration that shakes her whole body and makes her sound like a helicopter. I am probably going to serve as Shane’s designated driver company for a little bit later on.

It’s weirdly quiet in the house without Spouse. Not that he’s loud, but he takes up space in the rooms and it seems less empty. He’s back on Thursday. I am a mushy dork.

I started drinking smoothies a number of years ago for a bunch of different reasons.

1. I am not a breakfast eater. Frequently the idea of food first thing in the morning makes me feel nauseous (and has since high school). I’m told this is a low blood sugar issue which is why (of course) I SHOULD eat breakfast.
2. While I like most fruits and many vegetables, I don’t eat enough of them.
3. I had gone vegetarian and this was great way to meet my nutritional needs. Even though I’m back to being omnivorous, it remains a great way to start the day.
4. I am lazy about making lunch and the smoothies make enough that I can drink half and put the rest in a thermos to take on the road.

The recipes I began with came from a book (Whose name and author I have sadly forgotten and I no longer have the book. I know. I suck.) written by a two-time cancer survivor. My mother is a breast cancer survivor and my dad had survived lung cancer at that point, so it’s not like the nutritional benefits didn’t make sense. ;)

Using these four recipes as a base, it wasn’t long before I was making my own variations. You can tweak any of the ingredient amounts to taste (or leave them out entirely). For the tofu, I generally cut a block into 6 or 8 even parts. If you don’t use tofu regularly, put the rest in an airtight container, drain the ‘juice’ and fill with regular water. If you plan on using the tofu over time, change the water out each day.

You can find wheat bran/germ and flaxseed in the grocery store baking aisle (typically).

Frozen unsweetened fruit is generally found in the freezer section near pies/pie crust, just make sure you read the label for whether or not it’s got sugar/sweetener added.

Flavor/taste notes:

You won’t be able to taste the tofu. Promise.

Greek yogurt (or middle-eastern yogurt) can sometimes be found in the organic/vegetarian section and has less fat and twice the protein of regular yogurt.

I use 10-12 baby carrots because it means more vegetable servings.

I usually use a full cup of frozen fruit because then you don’t need ice.

Bananas are GREAT in these things.

If you want to use nuts in your shake, buy the unsalted kind from the store and make sure you run them through the blender FIRST to chop them up. I like them for texture (ditto the wheat bran/flaxseed).

Blend until you get the texture/thickness you want. You can add water or fruit juice or milk to thin it out.

So this weekend was kind of a drag in some ways (dad’s deathaversary) and good in some ways (Saturday’s class, Marsha’s wedding celebration) but it was a general downer in that my sleep hasn’t gotten better (bad dreams/nightmares for the last week).

This morning I decided to wake up, make a smoothie and do some studying for my exam tomorrow. But before I could do those things, there was a ring at the doorbell. A few weeks ago, through a complete fluke, I won a Wii and Wii Fit from dooce.com. Today they arrived! Clearly the gods do not want me to study for my exam. Fie on them! Instead of preparing for the Drunken Wii Fit Invitational, I WILL study anatomy and physiology. Really.

I also made my smoothie. Today’s blend: handful of almonds, handful of dried cranberries (blend those first), 8oz OJ, 1/8 of a block of tofu, frozen smoothie fruit mix (pineapple, strawberry, mango), one plaintain (because it was black), handful of blueberries, 10 baby carrots, large spoonful of plain yogurt, splash of skim milk. I totally forgot the flaxseed/bran but it’s pretty delicious anyhow and the almonds give it some texture.

AND, because it’s a super double spectacular Monday, I ALSO have a a new music mix! This is an 80s mix (66 minutes) that I’m going to use in class tonight. My plan is to have Madonna play *before* class so that it works right into the hourlong class time.

Things to do this week (in blogging) review the podcasts and Wii Fit Yoga!